December 4, 2014 — Reed Smith LLP is pleased to announce that the Financial Times (FT) has awarded the firm its top honor in North America for “Innovation in a Social Responsibility Project.” The honor was conferred at the first-ever FT Innovative Lawyers Awards event for North America, which was held last night in Manhattan at the New York Public Library.

Reed Smith received the highest score of all firms that were shortlisted for “Innovation in a Social Responsibility Project,” and is one of only four that received the “Standout” distinction in the category. The honor also helped land Reed Smith a spot on this year’s “FT 40” list of the most innovative firms in North America.

“We feel incredibly honored that FT recognizes how truly innovative and impactful our Haiti project is, as well as our deep commitment to meaningful pro bono and CSR work,” said Reed Smith Global Managing Partner Sandy Thomas. “‘Innovation and improvement’ is one of the five core values at Reed Smith, and we are especially proud of pro bono counsel Jayne Fleming, and all of the many lawyers at our firm, who generously devoted their time, pro bono, to the Haiti project’s unprecedented success.”

FT specifically honored Reed Smith for its four-year, multifaceted effort to help high-risk women and children in Haiti following the 2010 earthquake that devastated the country. Social responsibility programs were evaluated for their originality, rationale and impact.

Among several innovations for the pro bono project, Reed Smith was the first legal team to successfully file applications with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for humanitarian parole based on sexual violence in Haiti. Reed Smith is also the only law firm that partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to evacuate victims of sexual violence to Canada.

“Jayne and many other Reed Smith lawyers worked in partnership with UNHCR for four years to ensure that rape victims in Haiti had safe shelter, access to medical care, and justice,” explained senior pro bono counsel Chris Walters, who leads Reed Smith’s pro bono practice. “By becoming an implementing partner of UNHCR, on the ground, in Haiti, Jayne and her team played a key role in identifying and protecting women and girls at the highest risk of rape or repeat violence.”

Reed Smith's Haiti project has, so far, successfully evacuated 60 at-risk women and children, who will never have to return to the camps where they were assaulted. Most in the United States already have received grants of permanent asylum through the work of our team, while those resettled in Canada are guaranteed permanent status there. To date, all of the humanitarian parole or asylum applications filed by the Reed Smith lawyers have been granted.

“The Reed Smith project was built like a wheel with many spokes,” said Reed Smith Human Rights Team leader Jayne Fleming, in describing the project she created and leads.

In addition to partnering with UNHCR, Reed Smith’s Haiti project worked closely with Stanford University’s School of Medicine, the University of Pennsylvania Law School, the J/P Haitian Relief Organization (J/P HRO), the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), and numerous other Haitian NGOs.

“All involved have worked from the bottom up for social justice, but, at the core, is our mission to protect vulnerable women and children,” said Fleming. “Pro bono lawyers from Reed Smith formed this core.”

Overall, since the earthquake, Reed Smith lawyers have dedicated more than 10,000 pro bono hours, which equate to more than $4 million in billable hours to matters involving Haiti.

The FT Innovative Lawyers 2014 Report and Awards received more that 448 submissions and nominations from some 127 law firms and in-house legal teams across all of North America. This is the first year that Canada, Mexico, and the United States have all been included in the process. For additional research, FT partnered with RSG Consulting, which conducted interviews and sought feedback from nearly 450 clients, experts, and lawyers.

About Reed Smith

Reed Smith is a global relationship law firm with more than 1,800 lawyers in 25 offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Founded in 1877, the firm represents leading international businesses, from Fortune 100 corporations to mid-market and emerging enterprises. Its lawyers provide litigation and other dispute resolution services in multi-jurisdictional and other high-stakes matters; deliver regulatory counsel; and execute the full range of strategic domestic and cross-border transactions. Reed Smith is a preeminent advisor to industries including financial services, life sciences, health care, advertising, technology and media, shipping, energy and natural resources, real estate, manufacturing, and education. For more information, visit reedsmith.com.

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